David Nichtern - Awakening from the Daydream: Reimagining the Buddha’s Wheel of Life

Praise for

Awakening from the Daydream

A wonderful bookpithy, relevant, and fun to read.
Sharon Salzberg, author of Lovingkindness

The Buddhist wheel of life reveals a tragic human ironythat we humans author the very distress we are seeking to avoid. As a heart-son of Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche, David is uniquely equipped to help us explore and unravel this profound truthhis lively wisdom and sharp humor is exactly what we need in these difficult times.
Michael Carroll, author of Awake at Work

Imagine yourself deeply asleep in a dormitory filled with everyone in the whole world. From way down inside your darkness, you hear a voice sweetly calling your nameHey! My friend, time to get up. Time to get up. Come out and play! You slowly open your tired eyes a little and see the smiling face of your friend calling to you. That is this book, calling out to wake us from our dreamy slumber.
Krishna Das, kirtan vocalist

David Nichtern is one of the most effortless and effective teachers I have ever met. Hes funny and smart, which I love, but even better he uses his humor and intelligence to transmit a deeper message that can truly change your life. Get into it!
Pete Holmes, comedian and host of You Made It Weird

As a long-time Buddhist practitioner, there are a few people I have turned to over and over to help me make sense of the Dharma, and David Nichtern is one of them. His insights comfort and shock in equal measure, and this book is no exception. If you are looking for an introduction to the Buddhist path that is both gentle and fierce, this is the book for you. Using the iconic Wheel of Life as the gateway, it goes beyond the academic to offer real-life insights into how to transform your suffering into wisdom and joy. Im so happy this book exists. PS, he is incredibly funny.
Susan Piver, author of Start Here Now and founder of the Open Heart Project

Awakening from the Daydream repurposes for our times an ancient map to freedom, giving us a smart and sure way to break out of our habitual grooves. Nichtern speaks to us with a voice witty and wise. Deep wisdom in a spot-on package.

DANIEL GOLEMAN, author of Emotional Intelligence and A Force for Good

I N THESE PAGES, meditation teacher David Nichtern reimagines the ancient Buddhist allegory of the Wheel of Life. Famously painted at the entryway to Buddhist monasteries, the Wheel of Life encapsulates the entirety of the human situation. In the image of the Wheel we find a teaching about how to make sense of life and how to find peace within an uncertain world.

Nichtern writes with clarity and humor, providing simple practical steps for building a mindful, compassionate, and liberating approach to living.

A wonderful extension of the powerful Dharma teachings of Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche. The transmission of these ancient lineages is intact in Davids hands as he continues to update the traditional Buddhist teachings and make them ever more accessible.

RAM DASS, author of Be Here Now

A guidebook for anyone confused by the Gordian knot of existence. Masterful insight from a master.

JAMIE LEE CURTIS, actress and author

David Nichtern is a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist lineage of Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche and Sakyong Mipham Rinpoche. He lives in New York City.

Wisdom Publications

199 Elm Street

Somerville, MA 02144 USA

wisdompubs.org

2016 David Nichtern

All rights reserved.

The Wheel of Life: Illusions Game is from Garuda II: Working with Negativity, by Chgyam Trungpa, 1972 by Diana J. Mukpo. Reprinted by arrangement with The Permissions Company, Inc., on behalf of Shambhala Publications Inc., www.shambhala.com.

No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photography, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system or technologies now known or later developed, without permission in writing from the publisher.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Nichtern, David, author.

Title: Awakening from the daydream : reimagining the Buddhas wheel of life / David Nichtern.

Description: Somerville, MA : Wisdom Publications, [2016]

Identifiers: LCCN 2016010336| ISBN 9781614290056 (pbk. : alk. paper) | ISBN 9781614290063 (ebook) | ISBN 1614290059

Subjects: LCSH: Buddhist eschatology. | Karma.

Classification: LCC BQ4506 .N53 2016 | DDC 294.3/422--dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016010336

ISBN 978-1-61429-005-6 ebook ISBN 978-1-61429-006-3

20 19 18 17 16 5 4 3 2 1

Wheel of Life illustration by Andrew Archer, UNA: www.usenewart.com. Cover design by Gopa&Ted2, Inc. Interior design by Jordan Wannemacher. Set in Arnhem Pro 9.8 pt. /15 pt.

Foreword

LODRO RINZLER

WHEN YOU ARE a child you sometimes have adults in your life who appear very wise. That was the case for me with David Nichtern. By the time I was born, David was already a senior teacher in the Shambhala Buddhist tradition, having studied at the feet of the great Tibetan Buddhist master Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche for over a decade. (At the time of writing this David has studied Buddhism for more than forty years. I mean, come on. Not many Buddhist teachers in America can say that.)

A family friend, I was lucky to spend time with David beginning at an early age. I remember his grace and charm first, the practicalities of any meditation wisdom he may have shared second. I mention that because sometimes it is the presence of a teacher that inspires us, and my experience has been shared with thousands of people at this point: Davids warm presence invites us to explore the teachings in an insightful and sane manner. When you grow up, if youre lucky, you sometimes form a peer-based relationship with those seemingly peaceful adults from your youth and begin to see all their foibles, growing disheartened. You might ask yourself, If that wise teacher from my youth is actually a jerk, what hope do I have going forward? Not so with David. He is one of those teachers who not only manifests his decades of meditation practice when on the teaching seat but also behind closed doors, in the rest of his life. When I began teaching meditation myself, David was always supportive, mentoring me behind the scenes and leading by example, specifically around how to make the esoteric accessible. With this, his first book, he has done a beautiful job at just that.

The six realms of existence, karma, and the twelve nidanas are about as esoteric a topic you could choose for a book. To study them is to study the very nature of who we are, how we get confused and stray from our natural state, thus creating our own egoic identity. Following in the footsteps of his teacher, Chgyam Trungpa Rinpoche, David shows us both the traditional manifestation of these realms, where we are said to be reborn lifetime after lifetime, but also breaks those teachings down into how the essence of those realms manifest in our day-to-day existence.

In the volume that youve wisely chosen to pick up, David addresses the way that we fall prey to our own aggression, passion, and delusion. He talks about the six realms of existence, but he also dives into really important questions like What is karma, anyway? and Whats the role of a teacher? Do I need one? He skillfully offers teachings around how to unhook whatever ego trap you may have fallen into and climb out. Perhaps most importantly, he provides a slew of practices you can develop on a daily basis that will allow you to transform your heart and mind.